Hain Celestial hails success of Greek Gods yogurt brand

According to a recent report by Bernstein Research citing Nielsen data, Greek yogurt now accounts for more than a third (35%) of US yogurt sales, up from just 4% in 2008.

Organic and natural foods specialist Hain Celestial has continued to generate strong growth in the US market while more mainstream consumer packaged food companies have suffered volume declines, says its boss.

Speaking at the Barclays Back to School conference last week, CEO Irwin Simon said he was particularly excited by the performance of the Greek Gods yogurt brand.

“We acquired a Greek yogurt business two years ago and it was doing a little over $12m and on a run rate today it’s doing $100m with a lot of growth potential.”

Soy went a little bit sideways

As for the non-dairy category, “soy went a little bit sideways”, said Simon. However, almond and rice products are doing well, he claimed.

“We recently launched Almond Dream yogurt, one of the first non-dairy yogurts out there, and you will see a coconut yogurt come out very shortly.”

Everybody wants a piece of health and wellness today

Hain, which posted a 44% rise in net income and a 24.3% in net sales in fiscal 2012, is also confident of generating strong organic growth through innovation and has more than 80 new products in its fiscal 2013 line up, said Simon.

“Everybody wants a piece of health and wellness today so what we have to do is keep innovating.”

Hain Celestial has a leading position in the natural and organic products market with brands such as Celestial Seasonings, Garden of Eatin, Rice Dream and Linda McCartney.

Organic and natural foods specialist Hain Celestial has continued to generate strong growth in the US market while more mainstream consumer packaged food companies have suffered volume declines, says its boss.